Our 15 minutes are here...

...and I thought I should give you some warning so there are no worries when I disappear for the next 48 hours.

Several weeks ago, a friend told me about a contest called Code Green. You can read all about it at http://codegreen.tv, but to give you a quick summary, it's a 6-part TV series being produced by the CBC. They are selecting 12 families from across the country and giving them each $15,000 to improve the energy efficiency of their houses. How they spend the money is entirely up to them, whether they get new furnaces, windows, appliances, etc. The family that improves their energy efficiency the most wins a hybrid Toyota Prius at the end.

So on a lark, I entered, filling out a questionnaire about the age of our house and its fixtures, attaching photos of the house and photos of our family. I was completely shocked to get a call this morning to say that we have been chosen as finalists. A TV crew is now coming from Toronto on Sunday afternoon to interview us and confirm that the statements we made in the application are true. We are not on the show yet, but we are still in the running.

That means that Project Overhaul is in full swing. I am madly trying to tidy up and clean up and make our house as homey and TV-worthy as possible. I don't have time to repaint or anything like that, but a thorough decluttering and cleaning is in order, as well as as many small fix-it jobs as we can possibly squeeze in. We had hoped to do our outdoor Christmas decorating this weekend, which can only help; and I am making a list of other things to get or do (like a plant or flowers for the kitchen island and a fire going in the fireplace when they arrive) - all those little tricks that you would do if, for example, you were selling your home and a prospective buyer was coming over.

I am not sure what makes them pick the contestants for the show. Does it help to have a dilapidated furnace? - because we don't. Does it help to have a cute baby? - because we do. I still don't think we'll make it onto the show and even if we did, we'd say thank you very much for the $15K but never expect to win a car. Funny, I never thought of myself as the reality TV type (even though God knows I watch enough of it). Never say never...